Fraser Island October 09

[stevo68]

Yep..its trip report time and what a trip it was. One could almost have called it a boys trip away as we had one brave soul flying the flag for the female persuasion.....onya Jess. Out of 4 children ( bar Weeds kids who were with us for one night) it was a case of 3 boys....one girl.

Did any of this matter? Hell no...as a great trip was had. Two members earnt themselves new nicknames.....Snatchy for one .....and a toss up between "Intermittant Dave" or "CDL" Dave......still working on that one . I may have earnt a tag as "Speedy Gonzales" but its not my fault Smokey tackles the harsh terrain with ease . Onto the report....

Day 1

Bright and early at the usual location...I met up with Dave/ Son Ben and Grimace/ Jess. We knocked down some health food at Macca's and trundled off. On the way through we picked up Mark and sons/Dave and John Hampson/ Trav and the the trek to Rainbow Beach continued. Coming into Rainbow...some bloke called Tim Jordan rang me on my mobile.....after a few moments of speaking...realised it was Timj.....duhhhhhh.....and he had arrived safely with Phil ( his daughters boyfriend).

The intrepid travellers bought last minute things....like myself....forgetting plunger coffee ( which was a waste as I killed my plunger on day 2...thanks for the instant Grimace/Jess). Then down to Inskip to air down and head to the ferry....

Wave at da funny man



Smokey ready to roll



Spot the soon to be dirty white RRS



Fraser Island here we come...yaaaayyyyyyy



All the vehicles disembarked from the ferry and hit the inland road.....ain't that a pearler. Reckon it takes a couple of years to forget how it shakes, rattles and rolls your insides around. When we got to the end of the road...we hit a row of fourbies parked and figured high tide was up. So we pulled over to wait and chat.



When the tide was down enough after about an hour...off we went. It was here we had our first minor incident with oil ****ing out under neath of Aquadisco. Trav was onto it in no time......as my input was useless...so took pics instead





After a good couple of hours driving up Fraser and having a few stop offs, one being swinging by to say G'day to Weeds who would join us the next day, we finally traversed out the other side of Fraser and boy was it worth it. It is such a great spot......





John Hampson



Dave (DJ) Hampson



TimJ....go Timmy in the Game



And at the end Grimace and TEC Mark...White D3



We then drove through some horrid green smelling stuff of which we found a better way to cross this creek as I almost got bogged in it later that night...........whilst looking out for crocs (damn you Grimace).......whilst sunk in quick sand.....but I digress. We were soon at camp and everyone commenced set up and coldies.

Stevo's Camp Set Up



Camp Site in General










We then gathered later in the evening for laughter, beers, rum, wine and whatever else was being consumed.

Day 2

Being a Stevo trip, it was up and ready to roll by around 9.30ish. Goal was to head over the island find Weeds, Pete and his brother John and Guy. So off to Eli Creek we went. This time we found a better place to cross the creek near our camp site.....







On the way we stopped at the Pinncales for some piccies





Then we met up with Weeds down at Eli Creek......what a great sight seeing all sorts of LR's out in Mother Nature...







Kids loving Eli Creek



We waited for quite a few hrs and decided to head back. Whilst we were waiting a white disco came up to our group.....and out popped Sherwin....a soon to be new member. If there was an award for effort....Sherwin you win . Basic stats......drive to Fraser.....leave next day. In the interim.....snatched twice and 3 flats and be subjected to a tortureous 4 hr inland trip....more on that later. So with Weeds and Sherwin in tow...off we head. On the way back we stopped off at Knife Blade which is pretty amazing. One minute you are driving through all this bush then come across this.....






SOme of the others with better camera's should have some really good pics. Then down to Lake Allom to see the fresh water turtles....but harder to see this time round as water is darker...but yep....thats a pic of a turtle with his snout above the water....enjoy







Then finally back to camp where lo and behold we find Pete and Guy



So finally the whole group was together.....yay.......

A Random shot



Cuppla Grumpy Old Men



True showing her artistic side



The mother of a hole that the kids entertained themselves with at night time....they'd put council workers to shame



That night and to my shock horror....I....ummm....errrr...fell asleep a few times....the first time waking up to cold beer running over the family jewels an down my leg.....was glad I hadn't ****ed myself . I blame the big drive from the day before catching up .

Day 3

Unbenknownst to me...Weeds would only be with us one night...so see ya Weeds.....


Crossing creek for day out



Ready for the days adventures....if only we knew



For the rest of us it was off to Lake Mackenzie.......what a hoot that was...hey intrepid travellers. I had to zip back to camp as I forgot my puffer, so Pete led the convoy and I mistakenly thought I would catch them up..........nay kind sir...this wasn't to happen. Loooooooooonnnngggggg story short.....it took the group almost 4 hrs of bone crunching, rattling, thumping driving to take the inland roads to Lake Mackenzie.

Myself...I got lost 3 times...before....deciding....**** it......hit the beach and then come back inland. My trek took 3 hrs. Was it worth it......depends on ones perspective I guess. Backpackers in teeny weeny bikini's made the trek worthwhile for moi...can't speak for the rest of the lads and one lady . Oh and the water was amazing and beautiful as always. Not sure how many pics were taken here as it was quite the journey.

On the way back we saw our first dingo so took the required snaps...





Here was a dingo being followed by rangers....he had that "fugitive" look about him



After a long hard day of driving....it was back to hit the turps and boy was it hit. Personally was back in form and a great night was had.

Random Shot...view from our tent



Day 4

Well a few of my disco brothers and one RRS left early in the morning ( should stayed ) or maybe they knew something we didn't as we really experienced Mother Nature that day......night..........next morning . We decided that we wanted a bit of time back at camp...so headed off in the morning to Champagne Pools for a dip, see a few other things and get back to camp around 2/2.30 ish...........yeahhh....wasn't going to happen.

We did get to the pools......







Though as you can see...not really quite a "pool" more like a violent washing machine . After a few panics about missing high tide , we headed on back to base camp. Now if you look back at some of the earlier pics....you will notice the creek we were crossing. Well....that widdle creek had become this......

Hmmm whaddya think Pete



Holy Crap





So after a few "screw that" etc......and playing in the quick sand where at different stages we had the following incidents...

• Pete and Grimace almost drowned in the quick sand.
• Stevo sunk to his gut as Grimace tried to pull Stevo out.
• Pete randomly swimming here, there and every where.
• Stevo getting stuck again and Pete almost snapping his ankle as it was sunk in a bad position.
• Dares about crossing the quick sand.
• Numerous discussions about water depths, electronics and can we bash our way through pristine vegetation.

After those sort of happenings....we went off and played "Climb the huge frickin sand dunes that were bound to make a fatty like Stevo have a heart attack". Well we have no pics of that as we forgot to bring a camera....but for the second one that the lads and my 2 kids did....I did take snaps. Yep...one huge mother of a dune was enough for this fella....

Hear no evil, See no Evil, Know no Evil







Tim and Guy who had gone fishing on the other side...caught up with us and we headed back to the crossing. Nope..nada....not happening. After around 3 hrs of waiting.....we sent the first test vehicle through......well done Pete. Next was TimJ with a tarp....then myself with a tarp on and finally Guy. So instead of being at camp at 2.30 we got there at around 6ish from memory. To top it off....it was blowing a gale and the whole front section of my tent had blown down.

The last night was huddled at Grimaces under his awning as the wind blew a gale around us. We had to re do my tent again...which was hard when a bit pizzled....so thanks for the help people..was much appreciated.

Later that night I had to come to the rescue of Grimace as he was being mauled by a dingo......boy that little bugger put up a good fight.....hey Grimace

Day 5

Day 5....what can I say about Day 5......I think I will be life long traumatised by Day 5.........my kids will need therapy after the brainsnap that they saw . All I will say is that breaking camp with the amount of stuff I had......whilst doing so in 30knot winds....whilst being stung and covered in sand whipping everywhere......it aint a pleasant experience....nuff said. The upside is that's camping and taking the fun with the sometimes not so fun......anyone know a good car cleaner??

Well after catching up with Grimace it was time to hit the ferry home and meet up on the main land with the other intrepid travellers...



Well what can I say....I have notched up my 10th trip with the club this year and the quality of people we have in the club is amazing. Thanks to all who attended the trip...it was a pleasure leading you and I hope you had a great time as well. Thanks also to Mark as TEC....job well done. I look forward to your pics and additions to the report and look forward to catching up with you soon,

Regards

Stevo

P.S. I do have video footage...just gotta work it out.

[Outlaw]

Bloody hell that Trip report was a step up from your usual prattlings Stevo... well done

Glad to read you all on the whole had a good trip.... though take it Jess has a new nickname

Later that night I had to come to the rescue of Grimace as he was being mauled by a dingo......boy that little bugger put up a good fight.....hey Grimace

[Camo]

Great trip report and pics Stevo

Glad you all had fun!

Camo

[Grimace]

4 sale - 3.9L V8, never been offroad, never been overheated, run too lean or detonated its head off for a good 5 minutes coming along hook point

THEM BLOODY DINGOS.... my leg, its ruined!

[dungarover]

G.ood trip and great company as always, I totally enjoyed it thanks Stevo I'm probably glad I left a day early by the sounds of the weather on the Monday night

The Aqua-Disco had a slight hiccup as Stevo mentioned, the oil cooler line on the sump had shaken loose on the inland road, Stevo and I had stopped for the rest of the convoy to catch up when i discoverd a dark patch on the sand, it was too dark to be water so a quick looksie and I discoverd the worse case scenario. After a bit of thinking, wiping the area and starting the ignition the oil was leaking out of the lower oil cooler line. A bit of a turn on the nut and it had come loose so out with the shifter and it was fixed in a matter of a few minutes. I had to steal some of Grimaces oil that he luckily had on board (thanks heaps) we got to Eurong, I bought some more oil and it needed a good 2 liters of that puls the couple of liters that I got off grimace so it had lost a ****load of oil. Imangine if it hadn't been discoverd, could have been very ugly

I also lost a sway-bar bolt, the LHS swaybar mount is disconected so when going over some of those deep drop-offs on the track out of Lake Mckenzie you could hear it clunk away catching on the knuckle that it's normallt attached to (probably shook loose on the inland track as well).

On the Monday, Dave (Busman) and I took Coloola beach via the Freshwater road back to Noosa and home from Tewantin (not the dull boring Rainbow beach road to Gympie). I would have liked to do the total beach run from Rainbow itselfbut the tides were not out far enough as the rock section is hard to get around if the tide isn't out, but maybe next time. We saved a good hour on the total trip by taking the beach run and the tide was spot on despite the last couple of kms which were soft as buggary IMO this is the best way to get to Fraser and back home, the beach run is very easy and hell of a lot more scenic and pleasnt than the main road from Gympie. Maybe something to consider for next year?

Once again, great trip and definatley back again next year but for an extra day

Trav

[Shepp]

Great report and photos. I love Fraser wish I could have gone. Oh well next time.

[WhiteD3]

Thanks for a great trip Stevo, the boys and I had a wonderful time and as usual the company was fantastic. Here's some pics, video to come just working on how to reduce 4 days of video into something watchable

After a long day's travel, Grimace and Jess enjoy a romantic drink apertiffe at sunset with their faithful manservant Trav at their beck and call (or sort of)...


Eli Creek


Knifeblade sandblow




Evil tree at Lake Allom


Turtles at Lake Allom


Us at Lake Allom


The camp...


Jon H fishing


Busman's disco


Some bloke having a midlife crisis at Lake McKenzie


Playing with his Man boobs while his 2 kids slowly drown in the background........


D3 at Coongul Creek early in the morn...


The Hole! 4 kids supervised by Busman's Ben over 3 nights. Thanks Ben, the boys had a great time


A guest joined us for breakfast....

[stevo68]

Great pics Mark.....and oh how one forgets some of the pics taken ...catch up soon mate,

Regards

Stevo

[harry]

great to see you had a good trip.
thanks for the report and pics.

[Camo]

Great pics mark! Love the panoramas

Did anyone catch any fish?

Camo